Once papers are filed starting a family law case (like a divorce or a parentage case), you can ask for a court date so a judge can make a decision about your financial or family situation. This is called requesting an order. You can request an order about many issues, like child or spousal support, or child custody and visitation (parenting time).
If parents aren’t living together, the court can order one parent to pay the other parent child support. To ask the court for child support or to change a child support order, you have to file a request.
If you were served with a Request for Order (form FL-300) asking for child support orders, this means that the other parent of your children has asked the judge to make orders for the financial support of your children.
Find a specific page or step-by-step instructions within our child support section.
This guide includes information about
Confined means incarcerated or in a
Child support is the amount of money that a court tells a parent to pay every month. This money is to help pay for the children’s living expenses.
To ask to set aside a default child support judgment based on presumed income that's higher than your actual income, you will need to fill out and file forms with the court. If the court sets aside the judgment, they can recalculate the support amount.
Child support hearings with the Local Child Support Agency (LCSA) are different than other types of family law hearings. For example, a lawyer from the Local Child Support Agency will be there. This page explains what you can expect in these type of hearings.
